"The truth has not so much set us free as it has ripped away a carefully constructed façade, leaving us naked to begin again." – Lisa Unger

Home, sweet home. Except, it never would be and never had been, in fact. The beachside property held no memories for her, certainly not the childhood security Jack had hoped to restore and, subsequently, provide their own child. The house was simply a reminder - a red flag, danger ahead - of the lies that her family's foundation had been built upon. Amanda Clarke didn't feel safe here.

Flashback

"Amanda!" Jack's voice beckoned her name, as he entered the beach-house. "I'm home." He removed his coat and awaited the muffled noise of his wife and her failed attempts to console their baby, or even the shrill cry of their son, but silence lingered between the walls. "Amanda?"

The floorboards creaked above him, "I'm up here."

He smiled, carefree, and sunk into the sofa - home, sweet home. Photographs of Nolan Ross flashed across the television screen, the national news station reporting NolCorp's latest successful business venture. "Declan's all settled in. His apartment isn't exactly a home from home and all his roommates are frat-boys, but he's happy." His baby brother hadn't been truly happy in a long time, and it was a sight for sore eyes. "He starts work on Monday. Is the kid asleep yet?"

Amanda didn't respond and Jack climbed the stairs to find the answer himself. "He's finally down," his wife spoke in a hushed tone.

"Amanda, what's wrong?" He intuitively heard the sadness in the crack of her voice.

"Don't call me that," she spat, viciously, and yanked her arm from his reach. Jack's large, brown eyes widened with confusion and her own threatened to water even more. The last thing she ever wanted to do was caused her husband more upset. "Jack, I'm sorry. I'm tired, that's all."

"Come here, baby." He affectionately kissed her hand and followed her downstairs, "You're a new mom. You're bound to be nervous. I know, I am!" Amanda ran her hands through her Rapunzel-style locks. "I loved my dad, as much as you loved yours, but he wasn't perfect either. We're not born to make the same mistakes our parents did, okay?" His reassurance was followed by a tender kiss on the cheek, yet Amanda continued to cry. "Amanda, you've been this way for too long," Jack pleaded for her to 'fix' whatever she needed to; his wife had been depressed for months, but it was more than her inability to connect with their son.

Jack became aware he had lost his wife's attention, as she silently increased the volume on the television. A reporter stood in front of the courthouse, where Daniel and Emily descended the steps and searched for their hired bodyguard. "...the news comes just months after the conviction of Conrad Grayson, former C.E.O. of Grayson Global, who has been named as the man responsible for the conspiracy..."

"David Clarke's been declared innocent," Amanda verbalised the words on the ticker-tape news reel, at the bottom of the screen.

"Amanda, that's incredible!" Jack roughly embraced her, completely oblivious to the fact that she said his name, rather than 'my father'. Her arms were limp at her side, "Come on, Amanda, aren't you happy? Your dad -"

"He's not my father."

She braced herself the inevitable coldness he would regard her with. After all, with David Clarke finally acquitted from the unjust crime, Emily had little reason to remain as Emily Thorne, or Mrs. Grayson. She would be free to pursue Jack, in spite of falling pregnant with Daniel's child, and in spite of Chris' existence. Amanda was convinced Jack and Emily were destined to be reunited, against all odds - and that was the nature of her broken heart. "What are you talking about?"

"David Clarke's not my father. It was all a lie." Her confession was delivered in an emotionless voice, with an emotionless face. She was too numb to pretend otherwise. "I haven't been honest with you, Jack, and I've never been able to come clean for many reasons; mainly, because I love you, but I know I'll lose you, once you learn the truth. Secondly, because she needed me. She needed to avenge the injustice her father suffered." Amanda softly exhaled, "I just never considered what would happen when she'd succeeded; that she wouldn't need me anymore... all she would need is you."

"Who is she?" Jack snapped, furious and bewildered.

"Since she'll have you anyway, I may as well be the one to come clean," her eyes welled with more tears than before. "But, believe me, Jack... she'll never love you the way I did." Amanda shut her eyes, in the hopes she wouldn't witness his face fall, or the realisation of how deep his affection for Emily was. "My real name is Emily Thorne."

"Emily Thorne..." he repeated, the name stammered in his breath.

Flashforward

Sophia rapped her knuckles on the weary doorframe and Amanda acknowledged her entrance with a smile. The young girl hadn't inherited Emily's physical appearance but she held the same lioness-like stance as her mother. "Hi, Sophia."

"Hi, Mrs. Porter."

"Amanda, please," she politely corrected, before she set into removing the Grayson from her home. "I'm afraid Chris isn't home."

"Actually, I'm here to see you." Sophia entered without permission, her backpack clutched to her body like she carried the world's collection of gold.

The older woman's smile became sickly sweet, "Well, you know, I always have time for you! Sit down," she beckoned Sophia into the open-plan living room. "What can I do for you?" Her son's involvement with the second-oldest Grayson daughter had become pretty serious, from what Amanda could gather.

"I'm interested in the family history, mine and yours." Sophia hit the bullseye, never one to beat around the bush. "Your father's trial, to be exact." Amanda suddenly became unbalanced with nerves, which she hid well... almost, an art form. "There's evidence to suggest that the way the truth came to light wasn't as random as it may have originally appeared. Conrad believes someone vindictively hunted his family, as revenge for your father's imprisonment."

"Sophia," Amanda's suspicion bordered on paranoia. "I've worked hard, over the years, to distance myself from everything that happened back then."

The raven-haired girl worked her charm, aided by Charlotte's scripted responses, "Mrs. Porter - Amanda. I appreciate that, I really do. I realise you have no reason to help me or my family but you're the only one I can rely on for the truth," Sophia gently pleaded. "My father's under the naive impression that my Grandmother was the one who tipped off the S.E.C. onto the frame-up but I believe there was another person involved and, whoever that was, owned the box I have in my possession."

As Charlotte had so-rightly predicted, Amanda's attitude switched one-eighty degrees at the mention of the box, "You have the box?" Sophia revealed the Infinity Box from her backpack and into Amanda's line of vision. Amanda's response was hindered by the arrival of her husband, "Hey, babe." She leapt onto her feet and greeted him with a kiss, "Sophia stopped by. She found that old Infinity Box in her parents' attic and came by to return it." Jack's poker-face was so on-point that even Amanda would have been fooled, "You remember... that old one with keepsakes of my dad?"

"That's very kind of you, Sophia," he kindly replied with a boyish grin, one Chris had inherited from his father.

"It's not a problem," Sophia shrugged her shoulders, downhearted by the outcome. The transparency Amanda expressed toward her husband, regarding the box, suggested it wasn't quite the black hole she and Charlotte had initially believed. "I'm happy to help," she weakly added.

Very little time passed, before Sophia excused herself, and the Porter's politely escorted her onto the porch and witnessed her stride back toward Grayson Manor. Jack's hands grasped the porch bars, "How much does she know?"

"It's just a theory, for now," Amanda replied.

"Someone should warn Emily," her husband pointed out, in a tone that suggested that 'someone' was her.

"Jack," Amanda swallowed the lump in her throat, a lump of guilt. "You never did tell me why you stayed, even after you learned the truth. You could have walked away with our son. You could have been with her... but, here we are. Nineteen years on, and you're still married to me and the real Amanda Clarke is Emily Grayson." She scowled, and shook her head, "How does that happen?"

"It happened because of our son, Amanda," he coldly responded. "I was crushed by the truth, but I refuse to let my son feel the same indescribable sense of loss or disappointment." His eyes followed the tiny shape that was Sophia, in the distance. "I won't allow Emily's children to feel it either. Do you understand?"

Amanda softly nodded her head, yet she truly didn't, "I'm sorry, Jack."

"Don't." Jack raised his hand, abruptly. "Your apology is far too little and way too late."